Please stop shooting bears!  Constable Paul Reese shot this bear for no reason other than the bear was in an urban area.  The bear wasn't harming anyone.  Just because he didn't immediately run from Paul Reese doesn't make the bear dangerous.  A trigger happy cop shooting into a populated area puts everyone at risk.  And to add insult to injury, Paul Reese and the RCMP "apologized" by handing over the bear's dead mangled body to the Indigenous people.  This colonial RCMP violence echoes the Dog Slaughter of the 1950s and has no place in society.  We want this killing investigated by an independent third party, Paul Reese stripped of his badge, and a strict policy of no more shooting animals.  Everyone should submit complaints via this form.
 A Mixálh (black bear) was killed this morning by RCMP who were called to attend to an area near Lonsdale and First Avenue. Our Nation was notified so our Rights and Title team could take care of the bear in a good way and prepare any parts for cultural use. This aligns with our expectations for any external agencies dealing with wildlife. More black bears than usual have been roaming in Community this year, particularly at this time as they prepare for hibernation. Squamish Nation will continue to focus on co-existence with black bears, mitigating our own behaviours to not put bears at risk.  https://www.facebook.com/share/1DM7oxE4yB/
 
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North Vancouver RCMP shoot bear in Lower Lonsdale
It is highly unusual for bears to show up in such an urban environment, police say
 Brent Richter
Sep 29, 2026 5:30 PM
 
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 A black bear loiters outside a Lower Lonsdale apartment building not long before being shot by North Vancouver RCMP officers. | Jenni Balderston
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North Vancouver RCMP shot and killed a black bear in Lower Lonsdale early Tuesday morning.

The bear had made his way to the area around First Street and Lonsdale Avenue where residents spotted it and called 911.

“It’s not a normal occurrence to have black bears hanging out in areas that are heavily populated like the City of North Van and Lower Lonsdale,” said Const. Paul Reece.

The bear had clearly been eating from nearby garbage bins, and when Reece approached it, the bear showed no sign of fear, he said.

“You have all the things that can create a significant conflict between humans and bears. And we have had several incidents recently in the Lower Mainland where there has been contact between bears and humans, and that has resulted in a negative interaction and injury to humans,” he said. “Based on that, we felt the most appropriate course of action for public safety was to "euthanize" the bear.”

It was the fourth bear killed on the North Shore in 2026. Three others were shot by conservation officers in West Vancouver after they pushed their way into homes or sheds or got into altercations with pets.

The shooting follows a North Shore Black Bear Society warning to residents that bears are making their way deeper into urban neighbourhoods than they typically do after a bad berry crop in the forest sent them looking for other food sources.

With bears looking to fatten up for winter, the society is asking everyone to double down on removing attractants from their properties, including tree fruit and garbage.

Lower Lonsdale resident Jenni Balderston said it was an upsetting event for the neighbourhood.

She first saw the bear outside her First Street apartment lobby around 5:30 a.m. when she was going to take her dog for a walk.

“I see this kind of dark shadowy figure, and then I take another look at it, oh shoot, it’s actually a bear,” she said. “It was just calm, sitting there, was not interested in me, was not interested in my small dog.”

Balderston said she let her building's onsite caretaker know about the bear and contacted the Black Bear Society, adding that she didn’t want to see the bear killed as it didn’t appear aggressive.

“I just felt like it wasn’t handled very well, and I don’t think that the bear should have been shot,” she said. “They’re being pushed out of their habitat looking for food, and so I just don’t think it’s the answer.”

Officers would prefer to use less lethal options, Reece said, like firing chalk rounds or hazing the bear away. But in this case, there was no safer place for the bear to retreat to. And tranquilizing and relocating bears isn’t the bloodless fix that some seem to think, he added. It is more difficult and dangerous than it looks, and it can be inhumane to move a bear into another bear’s territory.

And it’s often only temporary.

“We’ve seen a lot with bears that actually come back to not only the same area of town, but the exact same garbage can,” Reece said.

After the shooting, the RCMP turned the bear’s body over to the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) to be used for ceremonial and cultural purposes.

Reece echoed the Black Bear Society’s plea to prevent conflicts with bears.

“The onus is on all of us as North Shore residents to make sure that we’re not attracting bears to our property,” he said.

Oh, and while this bear was killed by police, conservation officers have killed countless others.  

UPDATE!! 
Copied and pasted from black bear society :

It’s been a very tough few days for our bears on the North Shore.  NSBBS would like to share some information about what has happened.

• In the evening of Sept 27, a large male bear with no ear tag was killed in the Blueridge area of North Vancouver, for breaking into garages.

• On Sept. 28, a female tagged bear was killed in the residential area near Lynn Canyon for entering houses.

• On Sept. 28 a large male bear was killed in the Lower Lonsdale area, after having been in the area for a couple of days, and deemed to be too comfortable in such an urban environment.  The officers involved felt there wasn’t a suitable green space to move him along to, and that there was a real danger of the bear being hit by a car or having a negative interaction with nearby people.  The bear has been given to the Squamish Nation to be used and honoured as is culturally appropriate.

• On Sept. 29 a severed bear paw was found in the Pemberton Heights area.  It has been properly bagged by RCMP and they have engaged the BC Conservation Officer Service to investigate.  It is possible that this is a paw from a legally hunted bear that somehow was improperly disposed of, or could be the result of poaching. 
Needless to say, this has been a very difficult time for NSBBS staff, volunteers and for North Shore residents and bear lovers.  We are reeling and heartbroken.